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Life has taught me that you always take time to smell the flowers. — Photo by Pat Bean

“May you live all the days of your life.” – Jonathan Swift.

Still Pertinent to Life Today

Back in 1980 major changes were taking place in my life. It was a time when I was trying to find myself. Toward that end, I read much, and was continually writing down in my journals words that I thought would help me toward that goal.

On rereading some of them this morning, I saw that most were still pertinent to my life, as I have not stopped growing and learning – and may I never.

And that one should learn to be comfortable being oneself.

Following are a few of my journal entries that I especially liked.

“A man has to live with himself, and he should see to it that he always has good company.” Charles Evans Hughes. Of course, that goes for a woman, too.

Life is like an onion: You peel it off one layer at a time, and sometimes you weep.” – Charles Sandburg. I wept a lot of tears about my own life when I was younger, and now I weep for the sad side of the world that flows before us daily: its hurricanes, mass murders, racism, bullies, war and wanton unkindness. Thankfully some days that is offset by tears of joy at the beauty of nature, love in all its forms, and the kindness and thoughtfulness of good people.

“Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.” – Goethe. Even if it takes 59 years of practice and 10 years as it did for me to publish my first book.

“Of two evils, choose neither.” – Charles Spurgeon. Life has taught me that there are never only two choices. Besides taking no action, there are 100 and more alternatives for just about everything. The truth is that most of our decisions are neither right nor wrong, simply different.

“This — the immediate, every day and present experience – is IT, the entire and ultimate point for the existence of a universe.” – Alan Watts. I think these are words and thoughts for the ages. What words do you live by?

Bean Pat: Woods Canyon Lake http://tinyurl.com/ya2kroo4 Bird lovers and travelers shouldn’t miss this blog, even with the one out-of-place photo. See if you can tell which one doesn’t belong.

“Just try to do the right thing, and that’s immediate karma. ‘I feel good about myself’. “ – Linda Thompson.

Coming upon a field of flowers is the good karma of a road trip, if you see life as I do. — Photo by Pat Bean

Real or Not?

“When a bird is alive it eats ants. When a bird is dead the ants eat it.” This is the best explanation of karma that I can find.

The karma from a bad deed s like touching a cactus. It surely can’t feel good. — Photo by Pat Bean

The ant quote, and I’m not sure who said it or when I came across it, was one of the many topics on an idea list I keep for blogs. I came across it this morning when I scanned the list because my brain was in down mode. It was a thought that had appealed to me when I wrote it down, and one that still does.

Growing up, I would have been a perfect role model for Pollyanna. I believed right would always triumph in the end. And I kept believing that until my mid-30s, when I had to face the fact that the world is not fair.

To comfort myself for the loss of my rose-colored glasses, I decided that while the world might not be fair, what goes around comes around. And, at least in my dealings with people, I’ve never been let down from this form of karma.

But Linda Thompson, whose quote I just came across today, says it even better. If you do the right thing, or do a good deed, karma is immediate. You feel good about yourself.

Wouldn’t it be nice if the whole world believed this – and acted accordingly?

Blog pick of the Day. Check it out.

Bean Pat: The Day After http://tinyurl.com/zmssnhd I’ve been humming this song all morning. I liked it when it was at the top of the charts in 1974, and I still like it.

“Listen! The wind is rising, and the air is wild with leaves. We have had our summer evenings, now for October eves!” – Humbert Wolfe

Road Trip Fever

October is my favorite month of the year. I thought about this while I drank my cream-laced coffee this morning and looked out over the Catalina Foothills from my third-floor balcony.

I slept in until after seven, and so the sun had already crept down the mountain, bathing Mount Lemon and the valley with a warm glow while a brisk October breeze brought the feel and scent of desert freshness, after two days of on and off again showers, to my body and nose. It felt and smelled delicious. From my viewpoint, the valley was dominated by a rustling green sea of tree tops, their verdant hues enhanced by the monsoon rains that visit the Sonoran Desert.

And the color of October in Maine’s Scarborough Marsh. — Photo by Pat Bean

But elsewhere, in higher climes, the aspen trees are turning golden, the maple leaves are burning with fire, and the forests are wearing coats woven of lemon yellows, apple reds, pumpkin oranges and plum purples.

Such splendor calls to my heart. I especially want to see the sun-illuminated glow of aspen leaves as they wink to me in the wind. I’ve got road fever.

So o-dark-hundred tomorrow, I am heading to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon on a route that will take me through some of this country’s most scenic landscapes, which hopefully will be lit up with the colors of autumn.

It will just be me and my canine companion, Pepper. And that’s my favorite way to travel. I’ll tell you all about my trip in upcoming blogs. So stay tuned.

“You cannot forget, if you would, those golden kisses all over the cheeks of the meadow, queerly called dandelions.” – Henry Ward Beecher

I think a dandelion blooming on a manicured lawn is perfect. — Photo by Pat Bean

For Weedy Brains

There’s something in me that loves dandelions. Perhaps it is their cheery yellow petals that glimmer in the sun. Or maybe it’s their fragile, snow-like seeds that scatter after those petals have vanished. I’ve long tried to capture that fanciful seed-blown storm in a sketches –- but always without success.

And I marvel at the miracle of rebirth that occurs when the golden orb has turned to snowy seeds. — Photo by Pat Bean

I enjoy seeing a meadow of dandelions lightning up the side of a hill. But even more I enjoy seeing a single dandelion poking on a manicured lawn. Such imperfection speaks to my heart because it makes the imperfect perfect.

I think I must have weeds growing in my brain. But that’s OK. I’ll water them anyway.

A Few More Weedy Thoughts

“A weed is a plant that has mastered every survival skill except for learning how to grow in rows.” – Doug Lawson

“Roses are red, violets are blue; But they don’t get around, like the dandelions do.” — Slim Acres

“Weeds are flowers too, once you get to know them.” — A.A. Milne

“What would the world be, once bereft of wet and wildness? Let them be left … Long live the weeds and the wildness yet.” – Gerard Manley Hopkins

“You can teach a student a lesson for a day; but if you can teach him to learn by creating curiosity, he will continue the learning process as long as he lives.” — Clay P. Bedford

Mount Lemmon from the Catalina Foothills. — Wikimedia photo

I Don’t Believe Curiosity Will Kill Me

Sara Plummer Lemmon — Wikimedia photo

Did you know that Mount Lemmon, the awesome 9,157-foot-tall mountain that has been my backyard landscape here in Tucson for the past year, is named after a woman?

I didn’t until this past week when I came across a plague on the Geology Wall at Tohono Chul Park.

After I got home, I did a bit of research on the mountain’s namesake, Sara Plummer Lemmon (1836-1923), and discovered that she was a botanist with several plants named in her honor.

Mount Lemmon was named for her because she was the first white woman to climb to its top, and along the way she discovered several plant varieties unique to the mountain.

While it’s actually spelled a Spalding, it is called a Spaldeen because that’s how it is pronounced in the Bronx. Wikimedia photo

Do you know what a Spaldeen is? I didn’t until I came across the term in Annie Rachele Lanzillotto’s book, “L is for Lion: An Italian Bronx Butch Freedom Memoir,” which I’m currently reading. Great book, by the way.

A Spaldeen, I learned, is a pink rubber ball commonly used to play stickball in the Bronx. How did I live to my age and not know that, I wondered?

Both these discoveries fulfilled my goal of learning something new each and every day. In my book, a day without learning something new lacks soul.

As Eartha Kitt once said, “I am learning all the time. The tombstone will be my diploma.”

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“It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters.” — Ursula K. Le Guin

Pat Bean is a writer, avid birder, hiker and passionate nature observer with wanderlust in her soul. She spent nine years living and traveling in a small RV. She now lives in Tucson with a furry black ball of energy she named Pepper, a rescued Scotty-mix. She was also a journalist for 37 years, and can be reached at patbean@msn.com